In February 2022, Kennedy was driving his 2011 Ford pickup in South Carolina when he drove into the driveway of Parris’ home and killed him, and an investigation later showed that Kennedy was under the influence of marijuana, according to a South Carolina Highway Patrol arrest report posted by the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
At the time, the outlet Barnette as saying that Kennedy had taken “a deep hit” from a vape pen while meeting a friend, then drove his vehicle down a few roads into Parris’ driveway, where the victim was talking on a phone.
“I see my daddy laying in his own shop, moaning and groaning, with a stranger not even calling 911,” Parris’ daughter, Kelsey Parris, told the judge at a court hearing that month, per The State. “He killed my dad, point blank. I wish I could pay a little bit of money or a lot of money to have my daddy back.”